


Winter Winds

by AngelofSomeday



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 02:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20753195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofSomeday/pseuds/AngelofSomeday





	Winter Winds

_ The awoken woman gasps as if getting up for air, waking up from a long, deathly slumber. She is desperate, expectedly, and lets out an exhausted “FUCK” after returning to her senses. She is crooked and doing a heinous amount of effort to stay upright. _

“Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian.”

_ She follows a soft, female voice and spots a little blue light floating around her. A drone? And it called her “Guardian”? What is a Guardian? What is that drone? _

_ Who is she? _

“Who’re you?” _ The woman asks the drone, curious. _

“I’m not really a “Who”. More of a “What”. But I’m a Ghost. Your Ghost, now. Don’t really have a name.”

_ The woman tries to move. She struggles, and realizes she’s tied by something. It’s not a rope; she realizes it’s a seatbelt. Locating its rusted clasp, she uses her newly acquired glove to break it and, in time, she crawls out of her contorted prison and into the world outside. _

_ She was in a crashed car. The place she is in is full of them, most covered by vegetation, rust and dust. Behind her is an empty road a _

“Did… I die?”

“Long ago, yes. Apparently in a car crash.” _ Ghost responds. _

“...Who am I again?” _ The woman asks the Ghost, trying to absorb all the new information. _

“You are a Guardian. Now, if you’re asking me if you have a name, this I cannot answer. I don’t know either.”

_ The woman jumps the roofs of the cars, trying to organize her thoughts. _

“And what is a Guardian?”

“A bearer of Light. A new force, an energy brought forth by the Traveler. I’ll explain more once we get to the City. For now, why don’t we train your powers?”

“I have powers?”

“Yes.”

“Like…?”

_ She reaches a huge crater on the ground, with cars toppled all over on its bottom. There is nowhere to jump. The road continues after it. Ghost has an idea. _

“Like floating. Cross that gap.”

“You want me to what now?” _ The Guardian says, very much frightened of the height. _

“Float across. Put your mind to it. You can do this.” _ Ghost replies, and teleports away. _

_ The Guardian examines the gap and prepares for the worst. She concentrates and feels her body floating from the ground. Directing herself to the opposite end of the crater, she gracefully lands on the broken road. _

“So… uh… huh.”

_ Ghost appears once more with a gleeful voice. _“Congratulations, you are a quick study.”

_ The Guardian doesn’t truly know why, but she is happy to hear that. She lets out a smile. _

“Hey, you finally smiled! How’s that feel?” _ Ghost points out, circling around her Guardian. _

“It feels… nice. Although it does hurt my face a little -- hey, stop spinning, you’re going to make me…”

_ The Guardian sights something that makes her pause and lose her trail of thought. _

“What? What’s wrong?”

_ Ghost turns to the direction she is looking. It’s an old, rusted billboard. The little intact parts says “--mure d’hiver”. _

“I… I know that.” _ The Guardian says, realization and confusion plastered across her face. _

“You do?”

“Yes… It’s… It’s French. I can read that.” _ Guardian replies. _“It means… ‘of winter.’”

_ She takes a look around trying to remember. _

“We’re in France… right?” _ She asks Ghost. _

“Or what’s left of it, at least.”

_ The Guardian looks around, at her hands, the shattered street beneath her feet, the skeletons still trapped inside their destroyed vehicles, all once citizens trying desperately to leave the country. The world. It was her reality now, and she was alive. _

_ Whatever it is she came across, she had to make it count. _

“Hiver.” _ She uttered. _

“What?” _ Ghost replied, not understanding the sudden blurt of the word. _

“I’ll take it. My…” _ She looked at her hands again. It felt strange, but also-- warm. Protective. _ ** _Powerful_ ** _ . The Light that existed inside her soul reassured that she had a lot to learn, and that she would be alive and well when the time to discover came. _

“My name is Hiver.”

* * *

_ After days of scavenging the empty places for supplies and walking towards where Ghost thought they were going to find a ship, Hiver discovers an object, familiar to her in concept, but not in usage. _

“A gun?” _ She says, examining the small metallic contraption in her hands. _

“Yes. A hand cannon, to be precise.” _ Ghost says, coming out of her ethereal space to look at Hiver directly. _

“...Will I need it? Everything seemed peaceful so far.” _ Hiver inquires in wonderment, spinning the chamber and examining the rounds. _

“Eh. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

“So… just pull the trigger and load a new... uhm… magazine? When there are no bullets left, correct?”

“Pretty much. I’ll add an ammo counter to your display. Now go outside and practice.”

_ They walk out of the rundown building, gun in hand. The ammo counter in Hiver’s helmet is loading, synchronizing with the gun. _

“Mos Ultima II. That’s the name of this weapon.” _ Ghost says, scanning around for things to shoot. There are glass windows in the buildings neighboring the one they came out of. _“Try those windows over there.”

_ Hiver sighs, and points the gun towards her target. _

“Breathe steadily, line the gun up and… don’t let go.”

_ A relatively quiet explosion sound. At the same time, the loud shattering of the glass window, both echoing through the kilometers of empty streets. _

“Ow.” _ Hiver says, proud of herself, but massaging her shoulder, hurt from the recoil. _

“Not done yet. Get the other windows.”

_ Hiver unloads the remaining rounds into three other windows, until she hears a roaring sound from afar. It appeared close enough that it could get to her in no time. _

“What.”

“Fallen. Four-armed alien pirates who would very much like to cut your head off.”

“WHAT?”

_ The sound of scurrying footsteps on grass gets closer. Hiver readies her gun and scans while Ghost prepares her helmet’s radar and transmats away again. _

“Eyes up, Guardian!”

_ Her radar flashes red. A two-armed creature with two arms that Ghost identified as a "dreg" jumps into sight, shooting at her with some sort of energy-based weapon. She manages to duck to cover and unload some rounds at its body, killing it in an Ether cloud. _

_ The flashes intensify. More Dregs and two Vandal snipers appear, one of them jumping on the hood of the car Hiver was hiding behind. In an instinctive motion, she sticks her arm towards the Vandal and, in a surge of electric energy, it goes flying off and landing on its back, deceased. _

_ Hiver lets out a “Whoa!”, shocked at herself. But there are still more Fallen, so she keeps firing her cannon. From the body of her enemies, Ghost replicates ammunition and makes her new magazines on the fly. More Fallen approaching make the Guardian decide on a new approach, using some sort of technique by slamming the hammer of her cannon which caused it to fire faster but more wildly. _

“What are you doing?!” _ Ghost asked, a bit frightened about her Guardian. _

“I don’t know! But it’s working!” _ Hiver said as she loaded a new magazine into her hand cannon. _

_ Soon after, she had exterminated most Fallen. Her Ghost did what she could to gather materials to build better armor as her Guardian gathered her breath, trying to make heads or tails of what just happened. Aliens? On Earth? Did they cause all this destruction? Was she the only person left in the premises? Damn she wishes she could see another Awoken. Or human. Or whoever, if it meant she wouldn't get shot at. _

_ The period of rest and questioning was cut short by a distant roar and the recognizable crashing of bricks. _

_ A huge Fallen, larger than most others, destroyed out of one of the buildings' wall and hit the ground with a thud. Hiver’s display identified it as a “Captain”, and it appeared much more intimidating _ _ than its deceased brethren. It was enveloped in a sort of blue energy and roared in Hiver’s direction, readying its crude shotgun-esque contraption. _

“Ghost?” _ Hiver called, already backing down and looking for a way out. _“What do I do against this thing?”

“You can’t kill it now. **Ru-**”

_ Ghost’s plea fell on death ears as Hiver’s helmet was pierced all the way through by the Captain’s rifle. _

* * *

_ Her body laid lifeless on the floor. _

_ Blinding lights. Silk curtains. _

_ The tapping of heeled, bejeweled shoes against the crystalline floor. _

_ Harmonic sounds creep the way through the blue-skinned woman’s thoughts. They go together like the sound and motion of the ocean’s waves; serene, absolute, and never-ending. _

_ Her ethereal skirt flows behind her as if it was a pure, untainted nebula. An Awoken weave. Whimsical, as everything they create. _

_ The melody is part of her. And she is part of it. She could be in this state forever. _

_ She feels calm. Around her she starts to feel an untameable strength. The universe is agitated. But, somehow, also standing still. She can hear the rumbles, and the silences between each and every one. _

_ She can feel her soul resonating to the fragor in the center of this energetic dance. _

_ She dances, alone. She is the eye. _

_ Nothing else. _

_ No one else. _

* * *

“HIVER!”

_ The Guardian hears her Ghost’s desperate plea while gasping for air once more. She throws away her helmet and feels her head, panting and lost. It was intact, only mildly aching. _

“Ha… hah… So uh… that happened.”_ Hiver manages to blurt out. _

_ Ghost sighs in relief. _“The Fallen are gone. They went after something else, probably more important.”

“I saw something.” _ Hiver says, reaching for her hand cannon on the ground, clumsily spinning it on her finger and holstering it in her leg. _

_ The little light looks around, exasperated. _“Where?!”

_ Hiver gets up, beginning to walk in the direction Ghost told her to from the beginning. _

“When I was dead. It felt like… a dream, so vivid I could barely tell it was a dream.”

_ Ghost narrows her shell — As close as furrowing her eyebrows as she could do, at least — _ “I see.” _ Is the only response she can think of. She believes something has awakened inside her Guardian; She hopes she’s right. _

* * *

_ Weeks after, Hiver and Ghost have taken shelter and camp in an old radio tower. Its location atop a mountain allows them to have a good view of their enemies or any sign of Guardian life. Hiver has renewed most of her armor, with longer robes and an actual metal armlet - better than the piece of rope she had tied around her arm before. She still doesn’t understand what it is, but feels like it should stay there anyway. _

_ She tries to kill time by replicating the dance she saw in her dream. Not going so well due to the lack of proper attire and stage, but still, the Awoken woman felt happy. _

_ Her Ghost watched quietly while checking on her weapons and ammunition; They managed to score another, elemental hand cannon called “Allegro-34” (Hiver was adamant that it be a hand cannon. "It's like it was made for me," she declared.) and an old rocket launcher, “Cup-Bearer SA/2”. _

“Hiver.” _ Ghost started. _

“Yes, Ghost?”

“I sense a high concentration of energy coming to this area. I think it’s an Arc thunderstorm. We should hunker down inside.”

_ Hiver nods and goes inside to meditate (As Ghost has advised her to) and awaits the thunderstorm. _

_ It doesn’t take long to arrive, but when it does, the Guardian gathers all of her focus in her Light. Suddenly she is hit by an idea. _

“Stay here, Ghost.” _ She says, getting up and running outside. _

“WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

_ Hiver climbs up as much as she can of the tower, getting a clear view of the furious lightning strikes. The air smells damp and is cold against her skin. _

_ She sits down to meditate again. _

** _Focus_ ** _ . She needs to focus. Her Light will guide her through this. The storm is nigh, but she is calm. _

_ **Breathing.** In and out. Letting her Light flow through and out of her body. Taming the wrath of nature, one breath at a time. _

** _Patience_ ** _ . She is stronger than the storm. She is the eye. The Light will be her guide. _

_ Suddenly her thoughts are interrupted when lightning hits her chest. _

“Hiver!” _ Ghost jolts out of her trance when feeling something happened to her Guardian. _

“UGH, that IMBECILE.” _ She hovers out of shelter to the top of the radio tower as fast as she possibly could. The storm has calmed down, but it was still very much capable of killing them. _

_ She arrives to the top of the radio tower, desperate and standing by for resurrection. Until she caught sight of her Guardian. _

“What the hell are y— Ah? Ha… hahahahahaha!”

_ Ghost expected to find Hiver’s charred body and was ready to both resurrect her AND give her a serious talking-to about how dumb she was. _

_ Instead, she was laughing with pride and relief at the sight of her Guardian smiling. _

_ Glowing blue, lightning cracking in and out of her. Raw and pure power. _

“Congratulations, Hiver.” _ Ghost says in glee while the energy fades away. _“You are now a Stormcaller.”

_ Ghost pauses for a moment. _“Fallen are incoming. Go give these new powers a spin, will you?”

“With pleasure.” _ Hiver says, spotting the Vandals and Captain scurrying near her ragtag camp. She jumps down and floats to break her fall. They point at her and roar in alien languages. _

_ Calling upon the storm once again, she floats with the power of Arc flowing around and through her. _

**“Who’s ready for some ****_PAYBACK?!_****”** _She screams, before moving on to obliterate her foes._

_ She feels calm. She is the eye. And around her, the loudest storm she will ever hear. _

* * *

_ Hiver and Ghost are approaching the place known as “Old Russia”, as stated by the rusted road sign they have passed. Considering the six-ish weeks they’ve walked to get there, it was good to finally get some sense of destination. Some enemies are scattered and attempt to ambush the duo, but she is always able to take them out. _

“So… Warlocks?” _ She says, twirling and holstering her cannon. _

“Oh, yes.” _ Ghost transmats out and follows the Guardian in her walk. _“You see, there are three kinds of Guardians. It’s kind of impressive we didn’t meet any on the way here. Allow me to explain.”

“First, there are Titans. They are basically walls and missiles. Have big armor, punch real hard and work to be the first line of defense of their teams. They built the City’s walls and operate in a really protective code-of-honor. Whatever wants to get to their team, or the people they are protecting have to go over and through them. Perhaps a bunch of times.”

“Sounds awesome.”

“Yeah. Then, we have Warlocks.”

“Like me.”

“Like you. Warlocks are the ones who are the most dedicated to the Traveler’s Light. The ones who took it to themselves to experiment, study, archive and, of course… use it. They are weak, comparatively, in terms of strength, but they make up for it with tenacity and… lots of magic.

We lost a lot in the Collapse. A bunch of new stuff appeared AFTER the Collapse. Someone has to keep track of it all.”

_ Hiver nods as she sits atop a rusted car. _

“And lastly, there are those who belong in the wilds. Hunters. Fast draws, sharp blades, silent feet. They are all about being agile and adaptable. Some don’t even adapt to the life in the City. But those who do will always have your back.”

“They seem trustworthy. I kind of relate to the ‘fast draw’ part.”

“They have been at a fashion war against Warlocks for ages, though. They have capes, you have robes...”

_ Hiver starts walking towards Old Russia again. _“To each their own, I guess.”

_ In the distance, she sees Fallen ships, and doesn’t pay much attention. Very far from them, she spots an old wall, with what appear to be old ship hulls sticking out of them. The only thing separating them is a wasteland of sand and rusted Golden Age machinery. They both yell an excited “WOOHOO!”. Suddenly, another, black, coffin-shaped vessel appears out of a portal. It is unfamiliar to Hiver. _

“That… is not woohoo.” _ Her Ghost says. _

“What am I looking at?”

“A Hive tombship. Undead, parasitic creatures, but with old, arcane magic.”

"Because of course they are."

_ She hears heavy footsteps coming towards her. Quickly. _

“LOOK OUT!” _ An unknown voice calls out. She turns to her left to see an imposing, keratinous monster wielding a jagged, glowing sword, lunging at her. Before it makes contact, it is dissipated in solar particles with the sound of gunshots. _

_ As Hiver calms down, she hears a thud on a nearby car, and two more gunshots that exterminate two other monsters. She looks over at the source of the gunshots, clutching her heart which is now fighting to break her ribcage. _

_ A person. From her Ghost’s description -- A Hunter. Standing tall, cloak flying in the wind, auto rifle in hand. _

_ The Hunter removes their mask to look at Hiver in the eye. It’s a human woman, hair cut in a wild mohawk and red face paint in triangles below her eyes. _

“You okay, warlock?” _ She says, concerned and holstering her rifle. _

“Yes…” _ Hiver takes a breather before continuing and removing her helmet. _“Yes, yes I am. I’m sorry I… It’s been a while since I saw someone else. Ever since I came back, actually.”

“Wilds can get pretty lonely sometimes. Impressive, given the amount of Guardians being reborn. Glad I was patrolling this area to help you.”

“I need to get to the City. How do I do that?”

“Ohohoho boy…” _ The Hunter widens her eyes, laughing smugly. _“Not by foot, I’ll give you that. You’ll need a ship.”

_ Hiver and her Ghost trade looks before looking back at the Hunter. _“And… where do I get one?”

“I have an idea. Rós?”

_ A Ghost, with a white shell painted with red rose designs, materializes near the Hunter’s shoulder. _

“Get one of my spare ships and have it trace an autopilot course to the City and back.”

_ The Hunter turns to Hiver. _

“Listen babe, you reach the City, you’ll go to the Tower and look for Chief Shipwright Amanda Holliday. She’ll give you a cheap ship for whenever. Alright?” _ She instructs with a wink and a thumbs-up. _

_ Hiver blushes upon hearing her first sentence, but brushes away the feeling for the moment, only responding with a nod. Soon the ship appears to take her to her new home. _

“Thank you!” _ Hiver’s Ghost says to the Hunter as she transmats Hiver into the ship. The Hunter smiles at them, and soon they’re at the ship’s max altitude, flying towards the Last City on Earth. _

“...What did she call me?”

“‘Babe’? I think she didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Oh… bummer.”

“Is that _really all_ you have to ask after all this?” _ Ghost says, before turning to face the horizon. _“When you get to the City you might want to read about Sappho.”

“Sure, I guess?”

_ Hiver takes the time to sleep while Ghost keeps watch and control of the ship. It’s currently sunset and she appreciates the view before dozing off._

* * *

“Hiver, wake up. We’re nearly there.”

_ Hiver yawns and drowsily stares out the front of the ship. Approaching the lights she can see… a moon? _

“That’s no moon...”

“That, my dear… is the Traveler. And below it, lo and behold— The Last City. Welcome.”

_ Within a few minutes, the ship has soared over the courtyard and Hiver has transmatted on it. On the path before her, she sees a tricorn symbol and the words ‘ATRIVM PROPVGNATORVM’. Behind her, patches of grass and a view of the City. Up the stairs, a huge plaza multiple red flags, a kiosk with a robot behind it who seems, and a three electronic pillars. _

“Well… let’s go to the Hangar. This way, Hiver.”

_ Ghost leads her to the Hangar to her right, walking past many Guardians of different classes and armor sets on her way. Getting there, she can see many different people and robotic frames working at multiple tasks, crates, terminals and machinery all over the place. _

_ Taking everything in, she goes up stairs and approaches a woman with a red cloth around her neck doing maintenance on some sort of vehicle. _

“Hello?” _ She calls out. _

_ The woman gets up and turns to face her. The moment she did, Hiver’s heart skipped a beat. The sight of her brought a strange flutter to her chest, and she felt that she needed to talk fast in order to not trip on words. _

“Hello hello, Guardian! What can I do for you?”

“I’m… looking for A-A… Amanda? Amanda Holliday, is that right?”

_ Hiver is still fluttered while thinking about the woman in front of her. “Please don’t be her, please don’t be her, please don’t b--” _

“That’s me!”

_ “Fuck!” _

“I-I need a ship.”

“Of course.” _ Amanda swipes the sweat off her brow. _ “Do you need a Sparrow too?”

“A… what?”

_ Amanda grav lifts the machine she was working on. It’s shaped vaguely like a motorcycle with a thruster engine. _

“This baby right here. Faster and less tiring than walking. Want one?”

“I’ll... I'll take it.”

"Worry not, they're pretty easy to get the gist of. You'll be racing through the lands in no time."

_ Ghost transmats the right quantity of Glimmer on Amanda’s table, and then transports the vehicles to her inventory. _

“Thank you, Ms. Holliday!” _ Hiver says, gleefully strutting off. _

“Anything for ya, Guardian~”

“Who would have thought a Warlock's greatest weakness is women?” _ Ghost says from inside her backpack. _

“Shush!”

_ Hiver reaches the Plaza again, stopping to take in the sunlight and stretch. She finally has people to help and to help her, places to go, objectives to pursue and, perhaps most important of all, _

** _A place to call home._ **


End file.
